Additionally, in support of clients' needs for attractive financing options, IBM Global Financing is now offering "Why Wait," a no-interest, no-payments program for 90 days deferral to support qualified customers acquiring the new z10 BC now through the end of 2008.

"Clients are continuing to invest in mainframe technology, as evidenced in IBM's Q308 earnings, as revenues for IBM System z mainframe server products increased 25 percent compared with the year-ago period, with double-digit growth in all geographies," said Shashi B Mal, Director - Systems & Technology Group , IBM India/South Asia. "Now with the introduction of our new z10 business class mainframe, clients have an incredibly efficient consolidation platform that is smart, cool, and very affordable. There's no comparison when you consider the legendary reliability and security of System z."

Designed as a powerful, entry-level version of the IBM System z10 Enterprise Class (z10 EC) mainframe announced earlier this year, the IBM z10 BC provides mid-sized clients with all the unique attributes of an IBM mainframe. For example, companies in emerging markets (such as South Africa and Singapore) or in hot industries (such as social networking or mobile commerce) - can now afford IBM's flagship mainframe technology for under $100,000.

For customers seeking server consolidation options to cut costs, the IBM z10 BC delivers the capacity of up to 232 x86 servers, with 83 per cent smaller footprint, up to 93 per cent lower energy costs, and a much higher level of security, control and automation - allowing for up to 100 per cent utilization.

Clients can also look to the IBM z10 BC as one of the industry's most flexible architectures for today's newest business and consumer applications, which are often created on different operating systems and various programming languages. With up to 130 capacity settings for running permanent and temporary workloads such as application hosting or testing efforts, the IBM z10 BC can give administrators an upgradeable system to manage business growth.

From a performance standpoint, the IBM z10 BC is nearly 40 per cent faster, has over 50 per cent more total capacity and nearly four times the maximum memory compared to its predecessor, the largest IBM z9 BC. Continuing with the lineage of the IBM System z10 EC, the new IBM z10 BC holds most of the same technology innovations as the EC model - such as the Enterprise Quad Core z10 processor chip with hardware accelerators and cryptographic functions that are highly useful for commercial and financial applications.

For more general but critical workloads like email, the IBM z10 BC can support an incremental 1,000 e-mail users with the energy of a 100 watt light bulb. Specifically, simply activates one Domino "specialty engine" for up to 7,500 users. More importantly, both IT managers and end users will welcome the mainframe's stellar availability and security benefits for seamless and fast email communications.